More Birthday ... cake time!

So birthday cake at her birthday party was a strike-out, but we tried again on Monday and Izzy had some fun with it. Thanks again, Mom, for making her cakes for her!

Izzy's Birthday Party!

What a whirlwind weekend! Izzy's first birthday was capped off with a party with our closest friends and family members - just a smallish gathering and chance to celebrate her special day. Izzy had a few "troublesome" moments during the day - nearly swallowing a penny and burning her fingers on her candle wick - but by the time the party was coming to a close she was playing with her new toys and laughing again. After her nap she got a chance to really dive in to her new gifts and she's going to be a happy girl for quite some time!!

I only posted a few photos here. More to follow later.

Click here to see Auntie Kristi's photos on picasa.

Homemade carrot cake (notice Izzy's mini version) -

made & decorated from scratch by Grandma Vinson - thank you Mom!!

Ready for cake!

Look at that candle - I like the frosting!

Owwww! I burned my finger!

Present Time

After dinner, we opened a few presents. Gerald and I were lame and didn't wrap ours - we just gave them to her in a brown paper bag that she enjoyed playing with. Gerald's co-workers Shanthi and Sigi sent a gift home so we had her open that one. It had a ribbon that she enjoyed pulling off the package and did a bit of paper tearing, but what she was most excited about were the tags that were attached to the stuffed animal inside! Thank you Shanthi & Sigi!

Opening Shanthi & Sigi's gift

Kissing her new husky dog from Shanthi & Sigi

Racer car & push toy from Mom & Dad

New puzzles from Mom & Dad

The Special Plate

Gerald, Izzy and I sat down for Izzy's first annual birthday dinner. In my family growing up we always celebrated birthdays or special occasions with a meal (the menu was usually picked by the honoree) and the person we were celebrating used the "special plate". My mom got me my own "special plate" for Mother's Day last year, but I'm afraid that we haven't used it until tonight (this will change from now on!). I attempted to seat Izzy in her highchair without the tray so she could eat off the special plate, but it didn't last longer than a few photos before she was trying to throw it on the floor. We'll try again another time, but at least we got a photo.

Izzy's First Birthday

Today is Isabella's first birthday - I've been thinking back to a year ago on the day she was born. It's so funny because it was all such a whirlwind at the time, but now looking back I have such vivid memories of so many details from the day. Pretty amazing considering how sleep deprived I was within only 24 hours of her birth! In a lot of ways it seems like forever ago and in others it seems like just yesterday. How time flies before your eyes once a child has entered your life.

I took today off from work and my Mom headed up to spend the day with us. The first order of business was breakfast, opening a couple presents (one for my Mom & Dad and one for Izzy). They we headed down to Izzy's daycare to bring birthday treats to the kids. Izzy had her first cupcake - or should I say cupcake frosting - with the kids. She had fun but since she isn't really used to sweets, it didn't last long before she had too much sugar and spit it out. We tried again after dinner and she had some of the cake part - and gobbled it all up!

New birthday clothes from Grandma & Grandpa

Izzy's first cupcake at daycare

Old McDonald

Izzy's starting to say a few words - her first was "Hi" a couple of weeks ago, then "Daddy", "Mama", and sometimes "yay". In the last week or so, she's started to sing "E-I-E-I-O" when we sing Old McDonald. If you stick with this video to the end, she'll sing it for you - sorry for the craziness in the middle, she tried to attack me and the camera!

New Toys

It was mostly a quiet weekend, but we headed to Ballard yesterday to check-out Top Ten Toys. For anyone who hasn't been there, I think it's the best toy store ever!! Izzy had fun playing with toys around the store and Gerald and I got a chance to pick out a few presents for Izzy's upcoming birthday. We let her keep one of the toys - she absolutely loves this ladybug that she pushes around on the floor and the balls inside pop.

The Park

After the Flower & Garden Show (and a nice long nap for Izzy), we headed to Hiawatha Park in W. Seattle. It's the best park I've found for kids Izzy's age. They have great swings & play ground for little ones. Izzy loved the swings (as always), and she finally got a chance to go down a slide for the first time - I think you can see from the photos that it was a hit!

Flower & Garden Show

Kristi, Grandma, Izzy, and I headed to the Flower & Garden Show since it's their last year (maybe) of having it. It was a bit of a disappointment because people weren't very nice about letting a stroller in to see the gardens, but Izzy was on her best behavior and we made the best of it we could. I got inspiration for a couple of new plants for my garden, so I guess it served its purpose!

A couple of fun photos from our day:

Izzy & Grandma in front of the red mustang in one of the gardens
(my Mom had a red mustang when she was younger).

Kristi & Izzy in front of the Asian inspired garden - there are cool lanterns, chairs and elephants behind them - but they're hard to see...

Izzy with the stuffed Tiger in the same Asian inspired garden. I think it was called dancing in the garden and on this side of the exhibit there was a large dance floor with a set-up for a King to watch and the Tiger was near the King's area - Izzy liked the tiger.

At "Spoutopia", younger gardeners designed several displays - this was sponsored by High School students and was a "dressed-up" golf cart. Since Gerald had a golf outing planned the next morning, I thought this was a perfect place for Izzy & me to pose.

As usual, Grandma spoiled Izzy and bought her this darling hat. We tried on a ton of them and finally arrived at this one, because it matches her wardrobe (she looks so cute in purple, what can I say!). Here she is posing on a purple chair at Starbucks - she knows that camera is on her...

Radio Flyer Wagon

Isabella's Grandma & Grandpa bought her a wagon for Christmas. We were holding off on putting it together until the weather started to improve. Since the sun was out this morning, we thought today would be the perfect day to get it all put together so we could push Izzy around the yard while we got some yard work done. As luck would have it, by the time Gerald was done putting it together the sun had turned to clouds and the temperature had dropped significantly... so, we just had a quick stroll around the front yard and we'll look forward to really breaking it in when the sun returns - hopefully very soon!!

Sunday Morning Bowling

We attempted to go bowling on Saturday night (Valentine's Evening) but the alley was too crowded, so we postponed our inaugural bowling excursion to Sunday morning (we skipped church this week, but I was doing a lot of praying at the bowling alley so I think he'll forgive us! ;-) ). It was a fun time. Of course Izzy was too little to bowl yet, but she enjoyed watching all of the people and got a bit of practice walking around with me holding her hands. She's getting close - maybe in a few weeks she'll be at it solo!

Action shot of Gerald - look at that form!

Jessie & Izzy - though Izzy's more interested in her crackers...

Gerald & Izzy

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Izzy!

Life According to Alex

I showed our Nephew Alex how to use our digital camera and then I let him run free. I promised to publish some of his photos so that he could check it out on the blog. Here you go, Alex! Enjoy!

Self portrait

Izzy's not so sure she likes the camera!

Lola & Mom

Auntie Nila

Lolo's sleeping!

Uncle Gerald is sleeping too!Auntie Jessie is being silly!
I am an artiste!

Saturday in Bremerton

Gerald, Izzy & I headed over to Bremerton for Celerina's post-birthday celebration. Marie & Alex were also there. We enjoyed a nice lunch and the kids played together. Izzy really likes to play with Alex's toys. It took a bit of coaxing, but Alex enjoyed sharing with her and playing with her toys too! He liked her barn - it makes animal sounds and can be fun for all ages!

Posing for the camera

See Izzy, you go like this...

Thanks, Cousin Alex!

New Skills

This video speaks for itself. Izzy is pulling herself up on everything, and occasionally she's cruzin'. She's a happy, talkative girl - and quite the ham when she sees the camera!